It's Bedlam Pronouncing Bethlehem

I mentioned in Saturday's column that I had written one time -- 16 years ago, actually -- about the proper way to pronounce Bethlehem. This has come up in some of the responses to my recent Grammar Police call for common mispronunciations.

Since the old column covered this subject rather thoroughly, I promised to re-run it on the blog this week. I'll do that today, but first, here's a reader response I got over the weekend:

"People may not like the word 'Bethlehem' to be slurred into two syllables, but remember that the word 'Bedlam,' referring to an insane asylum in England, was itself derived from 'Bethlehem.' (One is tempted to say, though I won't, that fighting over such a pronunciation is pointless; therein lies madness.)"

Bed-lum, as it happens, is one of the pronunciations you'll hear from time to time. Anyway, here's the column:

One of the pastors at my church, who arrived here from another state last year, was discussing a parish in Bethlehem a couple of months ago.

"I refuse to call it Bethlum," she noted.

From a theological standpoint, I suppose it's understandable that some people might balk at that pronunciation. For instance, it would throw off the whole cadence of "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

But it does raise an issue that has been tormenting me ever since I arrived on the South Side back in the Paleozoic Era as a college freshman: What is the correct pronunciation of Bethlehem?

You might think this is a stupid question. But I can't think of any city whose name is pronounced so many distinctly different ways.

I attended last week's overflow City Council meeting, and I made a point of listening as some 35 residents argued the merits of the proposed rezoning of 160 acres of Bethlehem Steel land. I counted eight different pronunciations, and many speakers even switched back and forth in the course of their remarks.

I do the same thing. I say Beth-lum in ordinary speech, but when I'm talking to someone from out of the area, or in a more formal setting, I'll often switch to Beth-lih-hem, for clarity.

Then there are Beth-lee-um, Beth-lee-hem, Bet-lum, Beth-luh-hem, Beth-leh-hem, Beth-lih-um, Beth-leh-hum, Beth-leh-ham and Beth-luh-hem. Beth-leh-hem (12) narrowly beat out Beth-lee-um (11) at the meeting, but it was nip and tuck. Beth-lih-hem and Beth-lum tied for third with six each.

In Hebrew, I'm told, it's Bate-leh-chem. I also checked two Bible dictionaries and found Beth-lih-hem in one and Beth-lee-hem in the other.

Maybe the Christmas City isn't the only Bethlehem with a split personality.

The Rev. Douglas Caldwell, pastor of Central Moravian Church, has been in Bethlehem for 32 years, but he still speaks with a Southern accent -- and says Beth-lih-hem. "I had a professor a long time ago who said you do not have to give up your Southern accent, but it's important to try to enunciate properly," Caldwell said. "I'm a Beth-lih-hem person."

He mentioned, "Somewhere in my collection of little mementoes passed along to me, I have a spoon that has Bethlehem written on it, except the silversmith left out the second `e' making the spoon." Bethlhem, for posterity.

Councilman Otto Ehrsam is a Beth-lee-hem man. "I hope I say Beth-lee-hem, because I think that's the correct pronunciation for it," he said. Ehrsam cited "O Little Town of Beth-lee-hem."

You don't sing it that way? Well, even though a Bible dictionary supported his position, no one used that pronunciation at last week's meeting -- not even Ehrsam himself, who inexplicably switched over to Beth-lee-um for the night.

By the way, he confided that Mayor Ken Smith says Beth-lum, at least in unguarded moments. But Smith's official position is that it's Beth-leh-hem. "It's not beth-lee-um or Beth-lum, it's Beth-leh-hem," the mayor said. "I do pronounce the middle `e.' "

I passed this on to Ehrsam. "He doesn't," he said simply.

As a Brooklyn transplant almost 50 years ago, Ehrsam worked hard to eradicate traces of his Brooklynese, so he's a little more careful than your typical Bethlumite. "I guess I tend to have more of an `e' in it," he said, analyzing it at my request, "probably because if you have a vowel followed by a consonant and then the same vowel again, you get a long vowel sound."

I have my doubts about that explanation, so I much preferred another one he gave me.

"You've got the North Side, you've got the South Side," he said, "and you've got this kook from Brooklyn."